USER EDUCATION IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000000842 |
| Published date | 01 March 1992 |
| Pages | 29-38 |
| Date | 01 March 1992 |
| Author | Karen Downard |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
VOLUME 13 NUMBER 3
1992
User Education in Academic
Libraries
Karen Downard
Almost all academic libraries carry out some
form of user education; that is, they attempt
some instruction for their users on the use of
the library. The amount of instruction given
varies from a short tour of the library to a
detailed course of bibliographic instruction
lasting several hours.
The literature of this subject is vast. Much
of it describes how a particular library has
approached the problem of providing user
education or any new initiatives with which
the library is experimenting. Other
contributions to the literature propound the
necessity of providing user education or,
conversely, argue that too much time and
effort are being devoted to a task of
unproven worth. There are also many works
giving advice on how to set up and run a
programme of user education, how to
evaluate such a programme and surveys of
how user education is currently being carried
out.
This article provides an overview of the
user education scene in academic libraries
with regard to the arguments presented for
and against the activity, the degree and type
of instruction provided and how librarians
should set about providing instruction. It
attempts to answer the three questions:
Why?,
What form?, and How?. It is
concerned primarily with libraries in the
United Kingdom but also makes use of
American and Australian literature.
WHY?
User education is expensive in terms of both
money and time and so it must be justified.
This is particularly important in today's
financial climate, since the user education
programme must compete for resources with
the book fund and other basic library needs.
Arguments for User Education
Although user education may be a drain on
resources, there is little point in providing a
wide range of books, journals and
bibliographical tools if students are unable to
access them. Assistance can, of course, be
obtained from the librarian at the time of
need but, with librarian/student ratios
generally declining, this may not always be
practicable. Also, students are often reluctant
to approach a librarian. User education
should help to make students more
independent in the library and, hopefully,
lead to an improvement in their work.
Changes in teaching methods, for example
the increased use of project work and
tutorials, have resulted in students needing to
be more conversant with the use of their
library. Interdisciplinary courses also involve
the student in a greater and more varied
amount of library research.
A knowledge of how to use a large library
should stand students in good stead for the
rest of their lives. It is one of the aims of
higher education that students should learn
to find information for themselves and good
professionals should continually be keeping
themselves up to date.
A large academic library is understandably
daunting to the new student who has
probably only had access to much smaller
school and public libraries. In addition the
explosion in published material in recent
years has made it much more difficult for
students to find relevant material. User
education programmes should help to initiate
the new user into the mysteries of the library
and allay anxieties. Poor knowledge of the
function of libraries and how to use them is
Library Management, Vol. 13 No. 3. 1992, pp. 29-38.
© MCB University Press. 0143-5124
29
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